Without the departed Yunus Malli for the first time in 86 consecutive Bundesliga matches and missing the thrust of Jhon Cordoba up front, Mainz looked somewhat short of attacking guile in this match. Pablo de Blasis was a threat but Thomas Kessler was equal to the Argentine’s pot-shots at goal, and Yoshinori Muto saw little of the ball. It was a similar story for Köln, for whom 13-goal man Anthony Modeste was starved of service throughout. Nevertheless, a point and a clean sheet is hardly a bad way for either side to begin 2017.

There was a distinct Turkish flavour to Bayer 04 Leverkusen's 3-1 win over Hertha Berlin at the BayArena on Sunday afternoon. Leverkusen captain Ömer Toprak opened the scoring early on, before fellow Turkey international Hakan Calhanoglu struck from the penalty spot to double the home side's lead. Hertha midfielder Valentin Stocker reduced the arrears on the stroke of half-time, but Calhanoglu had the final say - rifling in a superb volley a minute from time to seal the points.

RB Leipzig bounced back from their Matchday 16 humbling at the hands of Bayern with a commanding 3-0 success against Eintracht Frankfurt at the Red Bull Arena. The Eagles were up against it from the get-go as goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was sent off for handball inside three minutes. Marvin Compper broke the deadlock from the ensuing free-kick and it was one-way traffic from thereon in, with Timo Werner's 10th Bundesliga strike of the season and a Jesus Vallejo own goal putting the seal on a sixth successive home win.

In a match with few clear-cut chances, VfL Wolfsburg needed over 80 minutes and the energy of new signing Paul-Georges Ntep to find a way through the defensive ranks of ten-man Hamburger SV. The Dinos looked to have done enough in spite of Albin Ekdal's first-half dismissal, but the Wolves kept huffing and puffing, and did eventually blow the Hamburg house down thanks to Mario Gomez's close-range finish with ten minutes to go.

Torsten Frings and Dieter Hecking each avoided defeat in their first games in charge of new clubs SV Darmstadt 98 and Borussia Mönchengladbach respectively. The goalless draw brings a welcome end to Darmstadt's eight-game losing streak, and represents only Gladbach's second point on the road all season.

Bundesliga leaders Bayern were made to work hard for the points at promoted SC Freiburg on Friday night. The defending champions fell behind to a fourth-minute Janik Haberer goal, but levelled before the break through Robert Lewandowski. The Poland international struck again in added time to snatch the win.